Wedgewood Running Mare

Another product of the post- BreyerFest effect is this wedgewood Running Mare.

Running Mare, #4120, 1963-1964, $565 (included $15 postage), 9/2018, eBay, Zana Goulding, Spokane, WA. (Selling a friend's collection.)

 Wedgewood is my favorite decorator color, and she has gorgeous shading.

 Some of them are an allover flat blue color with no shading. I don't care for those.

She's very white, especially for her age, and she is nearly flawless. I cannot believe I got her so cheaply.

Gold Charm Running Mare

After BreyerFest, the prices on models go down as everyone tries to sell models in order to recoup what they spent at the event. This means people are more willing to make a deal rather than wait for someone willing to pay a higher price to come along, and as a result, you can get some real bargains.

Like this Gold Charm Running Mare!

 Gold Charm Running Mare, #3120, 1963-1964, $550 (includes $15 shipping), 9/2018. eBay, Zana Goulding, Spokane, WA. (Selling for a friend of hers.)

 The mare has some black marks, tiny scratches, and small rubs, but for a piece that is 55 years old, and for that price, I am delighted to have found her!

I also bought her herd mate - I wonder how long these two have been together?

New from Teresa Rogers

Recently I did a partial trade with Teresa Rogers for My DW Morgans Lippitt, Forever Amber, and Roughneck, and received these three and $92 in payment.

Sugar, #124, uncommon variation in semigloss bay and eye whites, no USA, 1961-1969, 8/2017, Teresa Rogers, Woodland Hills, CA.

Chalky Spice, #134, $40, 1961-1987, Teresa Rogers, Woodland Hills, CA.

Buckskin Lady Phase, no number, $40, JCP SR 1983-1984, 8,000 made, Teresa Rogers, Woodland Hills, CA.

Semi Gloss Bay Running Mare

I also found this bay Running Mare at Countryside Antiques. I had not realized that I did not have the bay in my collection. (Gasp! A hole!!)

 Sugar, #124, 1961-/1963 - 1973, $15, Countryside Antiques, Lebanon, IN, 7/15/17.

 She's semi-gloss, too!

And, her mane's oddly outlined at the factory (look at the curl.)

Smoke Running Mare #2

Oh, the irony! Drive four hours to BreyerFest and only spend a measly $25 on one purchase, then come home and stop by one of your favorite haunts and hit the jackpot.

Yeah, it happened.

 Sugar, #121, 1961/63 - 1970, $20.25, Countryside Antique Mall, Lebanon, Indiana, 7/15/2017.

She's my second of this color in the Running Mare mold, and she's darker than my other one. Actually, she's very close to charcoal. I am thrilled to have her!

Shrinky Dapple Grey Running Mare and Foal

Teresa asked me if I might be interested in purchasing this set from her. I used to own it, and had been looking for them. They are shrinkies, but I told Teresa that I was fine with that.

 Graceful Mare and Foal set, #491212, 1987 Sears SR, $20, Teresa Rogers, California, 10/2016.

 Just look at the difference!

There is a pretty stark contrast, but for the most part, the mare and foal are shrinking proportionally instead of more in one area and less in another. They don't look grotesque (although that could happen.)

Buckskin Running Mare and Foal

Teresa Rogers sold me this set at the very fair price of $25.

Karinthia and Korinth, #969 and #970, 1996-1997, $25, 10/2016, Teresa Rogers, California

You can tell these are California horses - the mare has Quake Hold on her hooves!

Flocked Running Mare & the BreyerFest Effect

Just before BreyerFest is the time to buy models on eBay. Everyone is saving their money so there's less competition on the auctions, and people need spending money so they are selling models they might not normally sell.

Lucky me, I did a search for "flocked", found an auction for a Running Mare that was ending in a few hours, and put in an eSnipe bid. That wasn't necessary - I was the only bidder. That's highly unusual since the model was very reasonably priced and in good shape. (Pictures are from the eBay auction.)

Flocked Running Mare, $79, from JCP SR Collector's Mare & Foal Set, no number, 1984, painted eyes variation. Bought on eBay, 7/12/16, Melody Capo, 77 Pompton Avenue, Woodland Park, NJ 07424.

I asked on Model Horse Blab if anyone knew her model number, and Sande Schneider responded. "Those were produced at the old Chicago factory before Reeves took over. So *if* they were ever assigned a production item number, there would be no way of learning it now.... over 30 years later."

I am thrilled to add her to my collection! And now I need to find the matching foal!

Smoke Running Mare (Leslie's)

From my sister's childhood collection. She gave me this piece years ago but for some reason, I took it back to our parents' home in 1998 (judging by the newspaper it was wrapped in.)

 Sugar/Running Mare, #121, 1961/63 - 1970, smoke.

Red Roan Running Mare

Just acquired this old beauty from MH$P!

 Red Roan Running Mare, #119, 1971-1973, $32, 9/2013, Becky Hawkins, Reno, NV.

Now I need the matching foal...

Red Roans

(from Breyer History Diva, 2010)

Different day, same chaos. Had to spend most of yesterday reassembling the china cabinet. (No fatalities, but lots of stress nonetheless.)

It appears I slightly dissed the old-style "freckle" Red Roans in my previous post on the Buckshot. Didn’t mean to give that impression, as I’m very fond of the color. I think I have every regular run release of it, and most of the special runs. (Yes, including the uber-rare Running Foal and the ultra-desirable G1 Draft Horse.)

Breyer’s original Red Roans were a relatively short-lived phenomenon. The first regular run release of this peculiar color appeared in 1968, on the Running Stallion. It was followed by the Lying Down Foal in 1969, the Scratching Foal in 1970, and the Running Mare in 1971.

The Mare and two Foals were gone by the end of 1973, but the Running Stallion lasted through 1974. He’s relatively "common" for a Breyer of that era; a nice one with attractive roaning will set you back a little bit, but not as much as a Gloss Charcoal. The Lying Down Foal isn’t too difficult to find, either.

The Mare, surprisingly, is the scarcest of the bunch, with just a three-year production run. That may seem like an eternity today, but for a model of that era, it’s a little unusual. It took me a while to find one myself:


I found her - along with the Stallion, the Lying Down Foal, and a few other beauties - at my fabled local flea market several years ago. In fact, they were the very first things I saw as I walked up to the entrance!

All of us who have had some modest flea marketing experience have had a few of these rare and wonderful moments. For an instant you freeze and pretend that you didn’t just see what you’re seeing. You scope out the immediate territory to make sure no one else has zeroed in on your target. Your heart begins to pound, and then you immediately break into your brisk, practiced, pretending-not-to-be-too-interested kind of walk …

(Can you tell I miss the flea market? Darn you infernal groundhog!)

You may notice that this Mare has an unusual feature: a Blue Ribbon Sticker. It’s unusual because Blue Ribbon Stickers were discontinued by the end of 1970, and the Red Roan Mare wasn’t introduced until 1971. It appears to be original, or at least contemporary; the Stallion, the Foal, and a couple other models in that collection had stickers, too.

It’s possible that the Mare may have been released in late 1970, in time for the Holiday shopping season - as I’ve discussed before, a not-uncommon practice. Since Breyer was on the verge of discontinuing the sticker program, it would have made sense to substitute another Running Mare sticker, instead of printing up a fresh batch of correctly numbered ones. Her sticker is actually for the #121 Smoke, who had been discontinued by the end of 1970 anyway.

I have no actual evidence of an early release for the Roan Running Mare, though. The simplest explanation probably is the best one, here: Breyer (or the retailer) was just using up their old sticker stock.

Dapple Grey History, Part 1

(From Breyer History Diva, 2010)


So, did you hear about the 2010 Mid-States Horse? Yeah, I know, the 2009 was just out a few months ago - apparently someone’s boss on Blab took a pic of the 2010 model at the Mid-States Hardware show; here’s a link to the discussion if you missed it:

http://www.modelhorseblab.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100312

If you don’t want to click for whatever reason - it’s in an open access section of the forum, BTW - it’s a Gray Appaloosa Foundation Stallion named Thunderbolt.

He isn’t like the Gray Appaloosa Foundation Stallion I wrote about a few weeks ago. (Just another creepy coincidence; if I were shilling for Reeves, I think I'd have seen a check, or boxes of horses by now. And I haven't.) This guy is gussied up with splash spots, extra shading, Indian markings and resist underdappling.

"Underdappling" is a term I use to describe dappling that’s underneath another layer of paint. "Resist" is the term generally used hobby-wide to describe the earlier, pre-airbrush style of dappling, where a type of grease was splashed on the model before painting. The dapples were created when the grease was washed off.

Thunderbolt is very appealing, but whether or not I’m actually getting him will depend on how my space situation finally plays out. And it doesn’t look like that extra space I had hoped for will be materializing. The remodel is about 75% done, and most of my stuff is back to where it should be. Except where it doesn’t fit. And what doesn’t fit includes about 50 models.

Major culling will be necessary. I am not looking forward to it.

Did you know that the full-body resist Dapple Gray paint job (aka "Wild Dapple Gray") was a relative latecomer in the Breyer world? It wasn’t until 1964 that we see the appearance of the true Dapple Gray paint job. That’s right, the dappled Decorator colors of Florentine (gold) and Copenhagen (blue) actually premiered before the more "realistic" Dapple Gray. While the Decorator experiment might not have been a success, initially, it did apparently lead to something that was.

Yes, I know, Running Mare and Foal came out in a color called "Dark Dapple Gray" ca. 1962. But it appears that Breyer considered that particular colorway separate and distinct from the "Dapple Gray" of the Belgian and his descendants. Except for the occasional color variation, and some pieces from very late in their run, the Mare and Foal retained their dappling pattern - and their unique color appellation - until they were discontinued in 1973. (I don’t quite know how to classify the Nebraska SRs in all this; they’re definitely "Wild" Dapple Grays, but I don’t know the precise color description they were sold under.)

The Dapple Gray Belgian was discontinued rather quickly - by the end of 1966 - but his color was carried forward on Old Timer, who also debuted in 1966. The color was scarce until the early 1970s, when yet another variation of the Dapple Gray paint job debuted.

That discussion I will leave for my next post. But here’s a sneak preview of the model at the center of that discussion: Marney Walerius’s "In-A-Tiff."

Woodgrains - Rare

(Breyer Diva History, 2009.)

All Woodgrains are not created equal: all are scarce, but some are more scarce than others. And defining what is rare, and what is common, isn’t as simple as you might think.

Here’s a good example: the apparent popularity and longevity of the Ranchcraft Woodgrain Running Mare and Foal Lamp may have skewed our perception of the original Mare and Foal’s rarity. The original, prelamp Woodgrain Running Mare and Foal were made for a relatively brief period of time: from 1962 through 1965, a year or so less than much more desirable pieces such as the Rearing Mustang or Five-Gaiter.

An awfully high percentage of Woodgrain Running Mares and Foal I’ve seen for sale are former lamp pieces: their drill holes and semi-gloss finishes are usually a dead giveaway. True, regular run pre-lamp Woodgrain Running Mares and Foals are fairly scarce, and surprisingly don’t command the kind of prices that that kind of rarity usually brings.

Part of it is the sex appeal: the placid, sweet Running Mare and Foal don’t elicit the same visceral response the wild and studly Mustang does. The fan club for these pieces just isn’t that large. They’re not so rare - like the original regular run Buckskins - that their very elusiveness creates demand, either. They’re not the kind of things a "high spot" collector would seek out.

And the model horse market, at this moment and in this economy, seems to be driven primarily by a small coterie of "high spot" collectors. "High spot" is a term I’ve borrowed from the world of book collecting; it refers to collectors who specialize exclusively on rare, expensive and historically significant pieces, as opposed to collectors who seek to build a more well-rounded or representative collection.

True "high spot" Woodgrains would be items like the Old Mold Mare and Foal, Elephant, and Fury - items so rare and so scarce that virtually no documentation exists for them. The Old Mold Mare and Foal, Elephant, and Fury all easily fetch four-digit figures - and except for the Old Mold Mare’s cameo in the 1960 Montgomery Wards Christmas Catalog, there is a total absence of evidence for their existence, other than, you know, their actual existence.



The Old Mold Mare and Foal were regular run items, albeit extremely short-term ones, made in one or two batches before the mold switchover ca. 1959-60. (Until recently, it was speculated that the Woodgrain Old Mold Foal didn’t even exist, but we know better, now.) Others, such as the Buffalo and Polled Hereford Bull, appear to be special run exclusives for Dunning Industries’ Ranchcraft Lamp line.

But for pieces such as the Elephant and the Fury, I have no idea. My guess would be that they were extremely short-term regular runs, a la the Buckskin Running Mare and Foal, but that’s pure speculation on my part. Until more evidence surfaces, that’s all we have at this point.

Breyer Bay

The Mysteries of Breyer Bay

Breyer has an … interesting history when it comes to the color Bay. They really didn’t start rendering the color "correctly" until the mid-1960s. What came before then - and for a long time afterwards - was a color I’ve come to call, for lack of a better term, "Breyer Bay."

Breyer Bay describes a red-brown base coat with a black mane, tail and hooves, four white stockings, and usually some manner of facial markings. What it lacks is the black legs or points that would make it a true "Bay." Some real-life horses do exist in this color as Breyer painted it, sorta, but I’m getting ahead of the discussion here.

Even Breyer couldn’t keep this version of the color straight in their minds: early catalogs refer to the Running Mare and Foal in this color as "Chestnut" while at the same time calling the Family Arabians and QH Gelding in this very same color "Bay." (All the while calling the distinctly chestnutty #36 Racehorse "Bay.")


And adding to the confusion, Running Mare and Foal were labeled as Chestnut through 1970 in the Dealer Price Lists, but they continued to be called Chestnut in the Collector’s Manuals through 1975! (Yes, this pretty girl is a semi-gloss with eyewhites. NFS!)